Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-04-15
their maid OF all work ever since

the long absence of Captain Alden.
Grim and homely the one; gentle and
| lovely the other-the two are fast
friends. Mary humors the whims OF
Rachel, and Rachel in return scolds
and watches over and privately wor-
ships Pris-Mary.
Mischief is in the captains eyes as
he swallows his coffee and masticates
his beefsteak. He waits, however.
till the table is cleared, then Mary
finds herself set suddenly as on ped
estal where lately the supper dishes
had been, and the captain is walking
around the table thinking he never
saw such pretty bit OF living statua-
~. Amoment later the mischief fades
from his eyes as he sees the strong
likeness to another youngg girl he knew
years ago. He catches her on to his
shoulder, thence down into his arms,
with q flush of tears in his eyes.
"Now tell ME all about it," he says.
"What means this Puritan rig-and
Grandmother Alden's spinning
wheel?''
"It's for an old Folks entertain
ment at the church," says Mary "and
| am to be Priscilla, the Puritan maid
en-; and Jacob Browne is to be John
Alden, and-oh, father couldn't you
be Miles Standish?"
"And you have rejected me?" says
the captain. II couldn't stand that!
I'd act worse than Miles Standish ten
simes over"
II think it was John Alden that
acted badly" says Mary. II hate
him! don't think could ever have
forgiven him!"
"Why so?" said her father.
"Oh, for making me pop the qrtes-
ton. ! should feel so Inundated that
l. should forever after hate the man
who made me do it. Such q coward!
Making e. girl say she loved him, and
then not even telling her he loved her.
never could have been Priscilla!"
"How does the next minister get
along? What's his name?"
Mary had stopped to lay new
log on the fire. She does not answer
for a moment. Then, with a little
reserve in her tone, or something
which makes the words come little
stitly:
"People like him. His name is
Endicotte."
People do like the new minister.
The very shake of his hand warns
them to the heart. Quarrels, enmi-
ties, jealousies, the small hatreds of lit
tie hearts, cannot live in such an at
mosphere as he creates. The chulch
has prospered since he came. He is q
man with stirring New England blood
in his veins. The good old deacons,
while shaking their heads at some Of
his advanced thoughts and methods
for church work, are yet glad to have
this young sinewy strength to pull
them up out OF the slough OF Despond
in which they, like Christians, had al
most stuck FAST
Now a library is to be formed, and
the ''old Folks" is the means by which
the money is to be raised.
II the fall OF snow is heavy there will
be splendid sleighing, and as the affair
has been advertised in all the neigh
boring villages, they may expect a
crowd. The young will come for the
sle!gh-ride; the old for the pleasure Of
seeing the young.
John Endicotte is unmarried, and all
the gosslps have been trying to pick
him out wife. But he smiles on all
and-turns from ALL
Girl faces, sweet as flowers, gladden.
at his smile; faces growing withered,
with crowsfeet gathering at the eyes,
and care wrinkles beginning to show
on the forehead, grow strangely young
els he talks; boys and girls, young and
old, gather around, all but one, with
a face like rose blossom. She is
never near for more then a moment,
though John Endicotte feels through
every fibre Of his frame when she en-.
tiers the room, and has q conscious
ness of her presence wherever she is,
even though he may not see her.
That Sunday evening, when he
preached his first sermon, her eyes
looked up into his and his looked
down into hers, and their souls met,
it seemed. 1t had never happened
again. Something had come between.
When she looked at him, her eyes
looked, but her soul was hidden. He
had looked at her and watched the
color rise to her face and ebb. away to
rush back again, and ebb and flow,
while she sat motionless, looking up
at the ten commandments emblazon-
ed on the wall. Even in the very
midst of his sermon, when he, like the
born orator he was, was pouring out
his very soul to this people, he was
conscious of her eyes looking up to
him, her face now lighting,
now falling, now flashing with color,
catching quick breaths at some pas
sage, settling into rest at another.
Only at such times did her heart and
soul stand revealed, and he-he was
the munster OF God speaking his word
to this people with whole heart and
soul; he could not divide himself from
that to watch her then, only he had q
supreme, happy consciousness that
one heart received every word he said.
However far away and distant she was
at other times, she was always near
him then.
The night for the sociabIe came, and
Marywas there in her blue homespun,
deep, stiff linen cuffs, and white neck.
erchief. John Endicotte caught his
breath at sight of her. A resolution
formed itself in his heart at that mo-
ment which caused the blood to rush
with O. wild passionate thrill through
his veins, then stand still with shlv-
er of fear and doubt, only to cause
his lips to take q more determined
line as he looked over to Priscilla.
. Mary trembled at that look, and
half lost her self-possession, then she
bent her attention on Jacob Browne,
who evidently imagined himself a typ
ical John Alden. A strange, nervous
desire to laugh shook her frame as
she looked up at the red face and
heavy frame OF the ''strippling, John
Alden